The administration of Joe Biden has disclosed that the U.S. would support Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as World Trade Organization’s next Director-General. This disclosure came after South Korea’s trade minister pulled out of the race.
Joe Biden’s support is the only stumbling block in the path of Okonjo-Iweala’s emergence as the next Director-General of the WTO following South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee’s decision to pull out of the race.
Okonjo-Iweala was supported by a lot of WTO members last year but the administration of Donald Trump backed Yoo on the grounds that she was better qualified.
In a recent statement, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said: “Dr. Okonjo-Iweala brings a wealth of knowledge in economics and international diplomacy from her 25 years with the World Bank and two terms as Nigerian Finance Minister.
“She is widely respected for her effective leadership and has proven experience managing a large international organization with a diverse membership.”
The USTR also said it “looks forward to working with a new WTO director-general to find paths forward to achieve necessary substantive and procedural reform of the WTO.”
